


Murder to Excellence

by elmaswrites



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fashion & Models, Angst, Cat Puns, Double Life, Enemies, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/M, Falling In Love, Forbidden Love, Fox Miraculous, I Don't Even Know, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square Angst, Shameless Smut, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-08-03 04:10:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16318898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elmaswrites/pseuds/elmaswrites
Summary: After 4 years of being the heroic symbol of Paris together with her allies she has a mission to capture Hawkmoth's right hand; Chat Noir. But their first meeting won't go as planned, and nothing is what it seems.





	1. Run this town

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not even sure if this is going to be a long fanfic. I'm just waiting to see what the response is going to be. Leave it in the comments section, and I'm always open for fun suggestions!

A cold breeze touched her lightly flustered cheeks when she watched Paris from a rooftop, deeply breathing in the cold air while blinking slowly.

Ladybug swallowed and waited in silence  for the right moment to strike.

_The right moment..._

“Girl, did you spot him?” Rena spoke through the communicator. She crossed her arms when she looked around once more, and shook her head.

“No, nothing” she sighed, frowning behind her mask. He should’ve been here by now, but then again, she didn’t know what he looked like. All she knew about was his name and some description she heard from the people who had seen him.

_Chat Noir._

The worst criminal there was, working under Hawkmoth. She was assigned by the guardian to retrieve his Miraculous to weaken Hawkmoth’s evil practices of akumatizing innocent victims in her beloved city.

She heard stories of him, but never faced him before. For some reason he always avoided facing the super heroes of Paris. None of them caught a glimpse of him before. Nothing.

But tonight was going to change. Ladybug and Rena Rouge were on patrol tonight and decided to change up their routine. They figured out after each time Cat Noir strikes there was a certain pattern to it. And tonight, they wanted to take the chance and strike back.

 

  1. He always appeared at night.
  2. He would strike only once a week.
  3. He was known to be an assassin.
  4. There would always be one victim left alive to tell the tale.



 

His interest was never gold, or money, or whatever. He just went for the most random places to attack.

_And no one could explain why._

“Rena.. We’ve been looking for over an hour.. I don’t think he will strike tonight..” she muttered when looking up into the starry night sky.

“We can’t give up now! It’s still quite early!” Rena argued back through the communicator, which made Ladybug pout in return.

“Alright, fine, did you spot anything?” Ladybug countered, resting her palms on her hips as she stood at the edge of the rooftop, looking at the empty street beneath her.

“Nope, I would’ve told you if I did!” She cooed, making Ladybug roll her eyes in annoyance. With a sigh, she stepped backwards, and soon ran forwards, jumping onto another rooftop.

“I’m going to look around some more and go north. How about you head south and check in later?” Ladybug proposed.

“Alright, I’ll check in with you in 30 minutes” Rena answered, ending their conversation there.

That's when she started jumping from roof to roof, letting her mind wonder while looking around. Thinking of what she would do when coming face to face with Chat Noir. She knew her Miraculous was the strongest alongside his, so she definitely had a chance. She knew all of it’s powers and details from the great guardian. She knew all of it. However, knowing his reputation she wouldn’t be able to face him alone. She didn’t know what he looked like, hell, she didn’t even know what else he was capable of.

And that's when something dark flashed right in the front of her, moving so quick in the darkness she couldn’t tell it’s shape at all, and stopped right there from moving when landing on top of a roof, standing still and looking around quickly. Being in the dark had it’s disadvantages. She couldn’t see anything besides the streetlights.

_What the hell was that?!_

She had to warn Rena. But before she could reach for her earpiece, she suddenly felt a strong grip around her wrists, locking them painfully in place behind her back as a hand covered her mouth as well. A hand? It actually looked more like a claw?

The adrenaline rushed through her veins as her panicky eyes tried to look behind her, but to no avail. She felt herself being pushed against a wall, and another warm body being pressed against her from behind to keep her from moving away.

“Not a sound, I don’t like eyes prying on me” a male voice purred into her ear as she felt his warm breathing in the nape of her neck.

Her whole body froze, and she felt uneasy. She couldn’t move at all now he that he had blocked her from moving any of her limbs. His hand quickly reached out to her earpiece and pulled it out. Once he did that, he easily pulled away from her, letting.. her go?

As confused and shaken up as she was, she quickly turned around as her back faced the wall and watched the dark figure stare at her with it’s bright green eyes while holding onto her earpiece. Once she saw his cat ears and tail she immediately figured out who she was facing.

“Y-you’re Chat Noir” she tried to say confidently, but failed miserably.

“I guess _that cat is out of the bag_ ” he commented back as he eyed her earpiece, soon looking over towards her yo-yo, figuring out it was part of her weapon.

“So by the looks of it, you were looking for me?” He continued, looking over at her from head to toe. She simply gaped at him, wondering what he was planning to do.. but he only stared at her.

“What is it? _Cat’s got your tongue?_ ” He added in a mocking tone once he noticed she was answering his question, adding another cat pun to the table. And by the looks of it he thought he was hilarious. She took a deep breath as remained in a distance, but placed her palm onto her yo-yo. Chat Noir however didn’t make any move to stop her.

“That’s right” she answered eventually, slowly stepping forward, watching him as well ”I need to stop you from causing any more harm to these innocent people” she continued sternly, frowning at him.

“So... You’re here to arrest me?” He commented dryly, looking very bored by that and even rolled with his eyes, making her frown go even deeper “I was expecting something more... exciting? I mean, from seeing Paris’s main superhero I was definitely expecting more” he answered, as he hid her earpiece somewhere onto his body.

“You can’t hurt any more innocent victims, Chat Noir, especially with your Miraculous, these powers aren’t meant for evil purposes, give it back to where it belongs!” She replied as she raised her voice in anger, making fists out of her hands.

Chat Noir kept looking unimpressed, crossing his arms as well “So, you want to take my Miraculous as well? That’s sounds more exciting, so how about a deal? The winner of our fist fight will get the other’s Miraculous, sounds fair?”

“Why in the hell would I ever agree to something like that?!” She growled, making Chat Noir grin in response. How annoying.

“Well then, this is goodbye” he replied, turning around, casually waving without looking back.

Wait that’s it? Nothing? No killing? Was this the Chat Noir she heard the tales about of being a brute, not caring about anything, the assassin that had no mercy on anyone?!

“Where do you think you’re going?” She grunted, raising her yo-yo and immediately wrapping the wires around his body, narrowing her eyelids.

He didn’t even flinch when she wrapped the yo-yo around him, and soon turned his head to look over his shoulder, watching her through the corners of his eyes. _Those bright green eyes._ It was as if he was able to tell what was going through her mind. Especially by the fact that he looked so calm.

“You changed your mind?” He teased, grinning once more which just rubbed off on her in the wrong way. She quickly tugged on the wire of her yo-yo showing him that she wasn’t there to play around.

“Stop joking around, I am going to take you to the police and take away your Miraculous” she said sternly as she stepped closer, making sure he was still in place.

Once she reached out to his ring she was quickly interrupted by him “CATACLYSM” and she quickly pulled away, stepping backwards while looking up at Chat Noir who turned around, cocking his head a little.

“You were saying?” He spoke, _pissing her off completely._

“You know your transformation will only last 5 minutes now, don’t you?” She replied as she watched his ring which was charged with the destructive energy.

“I do” he responded dryly, grinning at her.

“And you know you can’t escape right now, right?” She reminded him, seeing the wire of her yo-yo still tightly around him.

“I second that” and from this point she figured he wasn’t taking her seriously at all.

“So why the cocky behavior?!” She snapped, as he kept his cheshire grin plastered on his face.

“I know I can be pretty _purr-suasive~_ ” he replied, making her frown even deeper if that was possible.

“I’m serious” she replied dryly.

“So am I~” he teased back, lowering his eyelids, his cat like pupils only focussed on her facial features while leaning forwards.

“Especially with a purr-ty lady in the front of me” he purred to ladybug, making her look surprised.

Was he.. _complimenting her..?_

Even.. _flirting_..?

She quickly shook that thought out of her head as she tightened her grip on the wires of her yo-yo.

“You know that’s not going to work” she commented, regaining her serious posture again as she narrowed her eyelids.

“I’m _pawsitive_ it’s going to work” he responded.

”For an assassin, you’re awfully careless around a superhero”

And that made the look on his face change into a frown.

“There’s more to the story than you think, Ladybug” he answered coldly, slowly trying to wriggle himself out of the wires of her yo-yo. But it didn’t work as Ladybug remained her tight grip.

“Oh, do tell _Mr.Whiskers_ ” she replied mockingly, watching him give up the fight with the wires with a sigh, soon holding his bright green eyes onto her.

“Not gonna tell, but..” he started off, stepping closer to ladybug, catching her off guard as he leaned in so close, their face’s were just an inch apart from each other “I’m definitely liking what I’m seeing..so much so that I wouldn’t mind repeating this with you~”

Ladybug didn’t realize it, but.. she started blushing. Chat Noir noticed this as he moved even closer, his lips just a few millimeters away from hers. His hot breathing against hers, she couldn’t help but notice.

Now his facial features came into the light, she noticed his green eyes scanning her face, and noticed he was looking down.. at her lips? Why was he looking at her like that?

_Did he..? No way..! Right...?_

And with that distraction, he easily slipped out of her grip and jumped away, with his cataclysm still active, into the night, where she easily lost sight of him.

Ladybug quickly fell back against the wall behind her. Left in awe and wondering what that was all about.

_Why wasn’t she.. going after him right now?_

She was trembling slightly, her gaze moving down to see her earpiece on the roof and slowly kneeled down to grab it and contact Rena.

 _“R-Rena..”_ her voice sounded hesitant for a moment _“Come to my location as fast as you possibly can”_


	2. Maintain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit I didn't expect this much response for a fic with just 1 chapter, you guys are so supportive and sweet I honestly love the fanfiction community far 2 much <3 I just keep getting e-mail updates about followers and kudos and I'm like wow so fast? Anyhow, here's the second chapter. It's still on the short side but I always need some sort of warm up before I dive into something big so enjoy!!

 You let him get away?!” Rena crossed her arms, her eyes focussed on Ladybug who shifted nervously on the spot, not really daring to look Rena in the eye after what she just told her.

 

“Look, he.. he is stronger than you think, I wouldn’t have been able to take him on by myself, he was just too smart about it at that moment” Ladybug justified, slowly looking up at Rena who just stared at her in disbelief.

“Master Fu already told us about Chat Noir’s abilities” Rena added, watching Ladybug pout when crossing her arms “Look, he was just being smart, I guess.. okay?! I don’t know what to say, I was just unlucky, that’s all” Ladybug reasoned as she was pretty much done with the discussion.

Rena sighed when she thought about it for a moment, tapping her pointer finger against her chin while staring at nothing in particular “How about we ask Queen Bee for our next patrol, since she’s able to immobilize someone I think she would be the best choice to help along to get Chat Noir” she suggested when looking back at Ladybug who was still being pouty.

“Fine” she replied. She remained in thought for a moment as she took a glance over the skyline of Paris, all the bright lights around the skyline brightening up her beautiful city.

“Let’s go now, before it’s getting too late” Rena suggested after some silence, waiting for Ladybug to follow her, they both went back to their respective homes.

Some times it was just best to shrug it off and maintain your daily life. Because what just happened between Chat Noir and Ladybug wasn’t anything ordinary. She had to ask him why he did what he did the next time they’d see each other.

The following morning, Marinette AKA Ladybug headed out of her apartment, hiding her Kwami named Tikki in her purse as she headed out to her job. She worked freelance as a fashion designer and she was actually doing pretty great with it. A lot of people were interested in working with her as she created a lot of lines on her own, working with models and small companies. It paid her well enough to live on her own in an apartment so she was doing something right. She had a growing portfolio online where her work was shared by many, getting quite the online following.

Right now she caught the best job requests she had ever gotten and that was to present her newest line to Gabriel. He of all people was interested in her work and she very well did her best to create the best of the best she could offer. He gave her a small assignment to create something for his company that could work and that was such a big responsibility it took her quite a while to finally create something she was satisfied with. She took a cab to the company and easily arrived at the big place as she walked inside towards the reception.

“Eh.. goodmorning I am here for my appointment with Gabriel Agreste?” Marinette started off feeling slightly nervous of her surroundings, watching a lot of people walk in and out of the building. The woman behind the desk stared at her for a good few seconds from head to toe, probably guessing which peasant wanted to visit the companies CEO and soon eyed the computer screen.

“What’s your name?” She replied back, not seeming to be in the mood for a fun talk “Marinette Dupain-Cheng” she answered patiently, watching the woman type her name and look in some sort of security system “ID card please” she continued as Marinette fished out her ID and handed it over, wondering why that was necessary. Was this company so secured that she had to be checked so well? “Thank you, here’s your visitation card, I will be expecting it back as soon you’re done, you can go through the gates and take the elevator to the top floor where you’ll be welcomed by Mr. Agreste’s PA” the woman instructed as she handed back her ID along with the visitation card. She sighed in relief, not sure why, but it felt like an obstacle being passed. Especially by the way the woman was looking at her.

She passed through the gates and went straight for the elevator like the woman instructed. It did take a little while for it to arrive, mainly because there were a lot of people in there and a lot of floors to go to. After a good minute of waiting with a lot of other people around her she finally stepped inside the crowded elevator and pressed the top floor, noticing she got some looks from a few employees.

_Was it that weird to press that button?_

She shook the thought away, watching the elevator emptying bit by bit on every floor it stopped and soon enough she was alone in the elevator, arriving at the top floor where she stepped into a big hall, provided with screens showing off Gabriel’s latest line on a catwalk with various models. There was a lounge with very comfortable looking couches and even a large dining table to which she guessed he used for business purposes. “You must be Miss Dupain-Cheng?” A woman in dark clothing approached her pulling her out of her distraction. She hadn’t seen her? Perhaps she was so distracted by the place that she wasn’t too visible to her?

“Uh.. eh.. y-yeah!” She stammered as she was still overwhelmed by the place. The woman however seemed to hold a blank expression on her face, not fazed by anything at all “I’m Nathalie, Gabriel’s assistant. I’ll be guiding you to his office, follow me” Marinette nodded quickly as she followed Nathalie towards the office. She watched her knock a few times on the door until she heard someone answer with a ‘come in’.

Once they walked in she saw Gabriel Agreste at his desk, along with someone else. A blonde guy, light eyes, greenish? She couldn’t tell from the distance she was standing. Especially because he was still in conversation with Gabriel.

_“And that’s why I think it’s best to-”_ The blonde guy was cut off by Gabriel as he got up “Let’s continue this conversation later, Adrien”

Oh that’s right. Adrien Agreste, the son of her favorite fashion designer. Their eyes met for a moment. As she was puzzled to figure out what his eye color was “Miss Dupain-Cheng?” Marinette was once again pulled out of her distraction as Gabriel Agreste stood in the front of her, reaching out his hand and she quickly shook it, smiling slightly “Pleased to meet you, sir, thank you for this opportunity” she immediately answered him, watching him nod and guided her to her seat in front of his desk. Adrien already got up as he walked passed her and their eyes met again for the last time.

_His green eyes._

And she vaguely saw him grin. Was she imagining things? She watched him walk out of the office and sat down as she was now facing Gabriel Agreste. Nathalie left the office as well, leaving the two designers alone.

“I’ve seen bits and pieces of your portfolio online and I gave you an assignment to create a new collection. You’ve made it, correct?” He started off as Marinette nodded, pulling out a map filled with her designs.

Her appointment took over an hour as it ended quite positively. She saw Gabriel smile at some points. And she was thrilled to be able to have an opportunity like this. She was able to show everything from clothing to shoes, to accessories everything. “Very nice execution Miss Dupain-Cheng, I want this collection for the fashion week, will you do the honor to work along creating the line with us?” He offered to which she nodded quickly “I’d be happy to work along”

Once they shook their hands and waved their goodbye’s, Marinette stepped outside of the office with a satisfied smile. She was so happy it all worked out. Now she thought back about it, she definitely was nervous with this new task, but she made it and that’s all that matters now. She was definitely going to celebrate this with her friends.

“I’m guessing by your smile that everything went well?”

Marinette was pulled out of her thoughts again when she looked into the lounge, only to see Adrien sitting there with a slight grin on his face, holding a cup of coffee in his palm. She looked surprised for a moment until she saw him laugh a little.

“I haven’t really introduced myself to you” he said while getting up, approaching Marinette as he reached his hand out “I’m Adrien Agreste”. Marinette slowly mirrored his move to shake his hand “Marinette” she replied, now being able to take a closer look at his features. He was quite handsome. Those picture she saw all over the city didn’t do him justice, he looked much better in real life. But also.. his voice sounded so familiar? Where did she hear it before? She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. He was quite tall as well, dressed in black, wearing only skinny jeans and a turtleneck. His sleeves were rolled up showing off his pretty muscular lower arms. “It’s nice to meet you” she replied with a shy smile as she didn’t want to linger on blatantly staring at him “Likewise, so I’m guessed I’ll be seeing you around, Marinette?” he wanted to know and watched her nod, his grin replaced by a faint smile.

“Yeah, you will”

There was a moment of silence, the two of them only staring at each other for a few seconds when suddenly, Adrien approached the young designer stepping closer to what seemed like going passed her personal space. Marinette parted her lips slightly in surprise as she watched him stare at her, wondering why he was looking at her like that until he spoke.

“You look quite familiar though, have we met before?” She was taken back by the sudden question, cocking her head in thought. Where or when would she have met a famous super model like him before? Never? But that question made her wonder. Something about him did seem quite familiar. Was it because he was a famous model, perhaps? But there was something else that she couldn’t quite place her finger on. She decided the shrug it off, looking up at him as she scratched the back of her head while feeling uneasy.

“Eh.. I.. don’t think so..? I-I mean.. you seem familiar too, but.. my guess is because you’re pretty famous already?” She stammered watching him smile even more. “I guess it must’ve been a misunderstanding, anyway, it was nice to meet you” he answered back watching her nod. Nathalie approached the duo, guiding Marinette towards the lift. Marinette took one last glance to Adrien who only smiled while sipping from his coffee, waving at her before the doors of the elevator closed.

“You seem to like her, don’t you?” Nathalie tried to confirm, turning her head towards the blonde model.

“Why would you think that?” he replied back as his smile faltered quickly, giving her a blank expression.

“I haven’t seen you smile like that in a long while” she replied back as she moved to sit behind her desk, watching the model cock his head slightly as he thought of it for a moment.

“You know Nathalie, _I think you’re right_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to leave a comment! Love to hear about your thoughts!


	3. Girls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I took so long, I haven't been feeling too well this week considering it was an emotional whirlwind. I've had quite a writersblock with both of my fanfics and I'm currently too busy with a lot of cosplay projects. (I actually did a miraculous shoot past weekend, so if you're curious, check it out on my instagram @elmascose). I'll try to update sweet arrangements as soon as I can. In the meanwhile, please enjoy this!

Marinette gave the visitation card back and headed out of the building, holding a big smile on her face, even making a quick twirl happily stepping down to walk her way home. She was feeling so giddy that she could work together with such a big name like Gabriel she couldn’t wait to show her collection in fashion week.  
She was in the mood for a big celebration. Perhaps going out with the girls? She could also treat herself on  some ice cream, yeah that would be great.  
She grabbed her phone quickly dialing Alya’s phone number, holding her device against her ear as she waited for her to pick up.

“Yeah, what’s up, girl?”

“Guess what!” Marinette teased, not being able to stop the grin creeping up on her face. Not that Alya was able to see it, but she was grinning like crazy and she wasn’t surprised that the people who saw her gave her an odd look.

“What? Oh wait! You told me! You had good deal going on with your work but you wouldn’t tell me what it was, was that it?” Alya replied back as Marinette tone quickly caught her curiosity.

“Gabriel Agreste wants my work to be shown on Paris’s fashion week!!!” She exclaimed happily with a slight shriek. She heard Alya gasp on the other side “Oh my god, girl I’m so happy for you!!” She couldn’t control his giggles while walking down the street and smiled at her.

“This definitely calls for a celebration at our favorite club, what do you say?” Alya suggested immediately, hearing Marinette laugh at the other end.

“I usually don’t go for something like that, but you got it, it’s not like we celebrate all the time” she replied while shrugging.

“Good! Let’s meet at your apartment, we’ll see everyone else at the club tonight” Alya concluded as they ended their call.

Marinette held a satisfied smile on her face as she breathed in deeply, lowering her eyelids.

  
The day passed quickly as Marinette was back at her apartment, with Alya in the bathroom, doing her make-up.

“So that’s how it all went down? And what was it like?” Alya replied while blending her eyeshadow after checking out if it was blended enough.

“Well, he was enthusiastic, I mean, he liked my designs a lot” she answered as she looked through her wardrobe.

“Not that, I mean with Adrien” she commented which made Marinette pause her movements. Why did she mention Adrien to her? He was good looking, but they barely talked.

“Why are you asking me this?” She questioned while slowly continuing to look through some clothes to wear tonight. Alya checked her eyeshadow again before turning her head towards the door opening, grinning slightly.

“It just sounded like you kind of liked him? Just a gut feeling” she continued, bringing her attention back to her make-up. As she checked out her eyeshadow she quickly continued with her liner, making a slight cat-eye wing very carefully.

Marinette only stared at her friend after she said that, thinking about it. Adrien was a nice guy, but... Ugh, why was she even thinking about this? She wasn’t supposed to date the son of her soon to-be business partner. That’d be weird. Besides, she doesn’t have time for a boyfriend or whatever she had a successfully growing career and that was enough for now.  
“I have no idea what you’re talking about” Marinette replied casually as she changed her clothes into a nice shoulder less black skater dress.

Alya giggled in the background while finishing her make up off with some setting spray and quickly fluttered her hands to quick dry her face. Alya’s phone started to ring suddenly, making her open her eyes while she kept fluttering her hand and answered it, putting it on speaker.  
“Yeah, what's up Rose?” She answered “We’re already done, do you want us to go ahead or wait?” She heard her ask on the other end “We’re almost done, go ahead without us” she answered while Marinette showered Alya her outfit she chose for her. Alya simply stuck her thumbs up as she turned her attention back to her phone “Alright! See you guys there!” And they hung up.  
“Let’s hurry” Marinette replied as Alya walked in to change her outfit quickly while Marinette prepared her purse.

After some back and forth, they finally left the apartment to take a cab to their favorite hotspot in town. While they both took some selfies (mainly Alya did so and send them to her crush, Nino) they finally arrived, walking into a club where the quickly saw the other girls, Rose, Juleka, Mylene and Alix waiting. After some hugs and greetings they all congratulated Marinette for her success and decided to catch up, since some of them haven’t seem each other in a while.

“So, how is everything going with Ivan?” Alya asked while sipping from her mojito, looking over at Mylene who smiled shyly “Everything is going well since we’re living together and engaged. He’s a very good cook.. I mean he’s trying to be” she started off which made a few of them giggle.  
“Well, I guess that’s good enough right?” Alya concluded with a wink making Mylene smile even brighter “Yeah, you could say that!”

Marinette remained in thought, not really picking up on the conversation. She was definitely happy about everything going so far. But there was only one thing bothering her.

_Chat Noir._

How in the hell would she be able to get to him? She wanted a few answers and everything only became more vague by the second. Why was he acting like that? Is he always like that? Did he want to kiss her? Did he actually like her in that way? What did he mean by ‘there’s more to the story’? She bit her lower lip as she quickly swallowed down her drink and put it down, getting up in the middle of the conversation “I’m going to get another drink” she only explained before leaving for the bar. She only got a few curious gazes, but they only waved her off. As she took a deep breath, she sat down at the bar where the bartender approached her with a “What would you like to drink?”

“Surprise me” she said as she honestly didn’t care right now with the thoughts going through her mind right now. The bartender nodded and walked off to make something for her as she stared into the distant at nothing in particular until she felt a presence sit down next to her. As soon as she turned her head, she saw some dark haired guy staring at her with a face filled with a certain anticipation. She could tell. Especially by the way he couldn’t stop himself from staring at her loins.

_Honestly this guy.._

“Can I help you?” She asked out of politeness, really wanting to get it over with. In the meanwhile the bartender brought her a drink, putting it beside her and left.

The guy suddenly stepped closer to her, already invading her personal space which she really, REALLY, didn’t appreciate. The way his already stinking alcohol breath reached her made her scrunch up her nose, frowning while slowly trying to move backwards.

What the hell was up with these guys lately?! Stepping into her personal space and trying to flirt?!

“I don’t think she likes your attempt at flirting, how about you back off?” A voice came from behind pulling the guy out of his occupancy with Marinette and gave a really annoyed look as he pulled away. She turned her head immediately as she wasn’t quite sure who that voice belonged to and widened her eyes as she came face to face with none other than Adrien Agreste.  
How in the hell... Nevermind, she didn’t even want to bother.

  
“Can’t you see I’m busy? Go and find yourself another girl” the other guy answered as he pulled away from Marinette who couldn’t sigh in relief just yet as the guy was making a scene, making some heads turn their way. Oh, the shame..

Adrien didn’t move away as he held some sort of cocky grin on his face, watching the guy attempt into intimidating him which didn’t quite work out. As the guy approached even closer, both of them chest to chest, Marinette held her breath, anxiously watching the two of them as she wasn’t really in the mood for a fight.

“Is that your phone or are you just happy to see me?” Adrien blurted out suddenly. Everyone became quiet as they looked straight down at the guy's pants.

_Oh my.._

Everyone started to laugh out loud, making the guy immediately run for it and all Marinette did was just gape at the scene.

Did that just _really happen?_

Marinette quickly decided it was time for some liquid courage until suddenly Adrien stopped her by pulling her drink away from her, making her look up in surprise.  
“I wouldn’t drink that if I were you, that guy slipped something into your drink while you didn’t look” he explained as he called the bartender to order two bourbons “I’ll buy you a new one” he added and sat down next to her with a slight smile.  
“I.. didn’t expect to see you here..” Marinette muttered as she looked down at her hands, fumbling with her fingers just slightly until she heard him chuckle.

“I tend to hang out at places like these to get out of the ‘exclusive’ life once a while. There’s more to the world than just VIP, right?” He explained, watching her turn her head to him. ”Doesn’t anyone recognize you like this?" She asked, wondering how no girl started to nag him for selfies since his face if plastered all over Paris.

“Well, sometimes they do, but at places like these they are so drunk that if I say that I’m Pete and I look like Adrien, they’d simply accept it and move on” he joked as she suddenly giggled “Well, you don’t quite look like a Pete” she joked back, and watched him narrow his eyelids at her.  
“How would you know what a Pete looks like?” He questioned her which made her think for a moment “Hmm.. a Pete is someone I imagine to be a brunette guy with a barrette? Some glasses, perhaps a mustache, a suspender with a blouse, some knee-length pants, socks reaching up to his knees and shiny shoes. And he would definitely like a beer instead of bourbon” she described which made him laugh out loud suddenly, making her pout at him.  
“That’s a ridiculously specific description of what a Pete looks like to you” he commented, watching their drinks be put down in front of them and immediately took his first sip.  
“Then I guess I should either pick a better name or perhaps dress more like a Pete?” He concluded as he sounded much more calmer after his laughter, making Marinette think again after she suddenly stared at him from head to toe, her mind wandering about his question. Obviously Adrien caught her staring from the corners of his eyes, making him grin again.  
“Uh.. I uhh.. Think you should just change up the name? I don’t think that’ll look good on you” she tried to change the subject, not wanting him to ask why she was looking at him like that.

Damn it. _Don’t get the wrong idea._

“If the designer my father wants to work with said so, than I should better listen” he commented with a wink.

How smooth can one be?

She bit her lower lip as she really need some liquid courage and quickly drank the whole content of the glass.

“I think getting to know you is going to be quite fun, huh?” Adrien raised his glass while he held his eyes on her.

This was going to be an eventful night.


	4. Hold on, we're going home

_Click_

Marinette felt soft warmth surrounding her, breathing in the smell of strong cologne around her. She breathed in deeply, rolling over for a more comfortable position as she was slowly waking up. Especially by the way that every sensation around her felt _foreign_. She breathed in deeply again, soon hearing footsteps creeping up on her.

_Wait…_

_Footsteps?!_

She opened up her eyes as she saw she was in an unfamiliar room, an unfamiliar bed.

She sat up, immediately noticing she was still wearing her dress without her heels and looked around her in panic until her blue eyes settled themselves on a pair of bright green ones.

“Slept well I assume?” Adrien mused while only wearing jeans and nothing else.

Marinette’s lips pursed as her face went completely red, not at all getting what was going on or how she got there in the first place. She couldn't look away from his face, she couldn't allow herself to let her eyes wander down his body with his green eyes locked onto hers.

_How odd. And Embarrassing._

She quickly averted her gaze, nervously twitching in place without answering him until she heard something shift.

“I’m sorry, I’ll put on a shirt if that’s an issue” and slowly she looked up at him again now accidentally paying attention to his abs, but made sure to quickly look away before he would caught her staring. _Damn it._

As soon as he put on his shirt she looked up at the blonde model, trying to understand her situation, but.. she couldn’t remember anything at all, nothing at all. _How odd?_ She was never that much of a drinker, not that much that she would end up in someones else’s bed?

_Wait._

Did they? _No way?!_

“Did we..?!” was the first thing she said, too afraid to finish that sentence, but Adrien chuckled in return, shaking his head.

“No, don’t worry about it, we had quite some fun last night, but we didn’t do anything else other than getting to know each other. I couldn’t find your friends and you weren’t really able to say where you lived, so… I took you to my place” He explained as he went through his hair “And we didn’t sleep in the same bed either, I’m not that type of guy” he continued, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Marinette sighed. Kind of relieved, but something didn’t sit well with her. Making such an impression on the son of her business partner was quite embarrassing.

“Look.. I’m sorry for troubling you so much that you had to take me home like this… I just hope...I didn’t leave a bad impression..” she muttered, her face reddening again. It was honestly very embarrassing being in a state like this in front of Paris’s biggest model.

“Don’t worry too much about it, we had fun and.. I think I’m definitely making a new friend, you’re quite fun honestly” he assured her, smiling kindly and got up soon, heading towards the door of his bedroom “I left some clean clothes in the bathroom for you to wear, you can use my shower if you want to, I think you’d appreciate feeling clean after a night out” and added “I’ll prepare some breakfast” With saying that he left the room, closing the door behind him.

And silence followed after she heard footsteps fading away.

_What just happened?_

She slowly pulled her legs out of the sheets, pulling the expensive silk blanket away. She did feel a terrible headache, perhaps Adrien really was good company that she would get herself wasted like that? How did that happen? She just had so many questions about last night it left one big black hole in her mind. She looked up again, scanning the room until her eyes landed on the nightstand where her handbag was along with a glass of water and some aspirin, she quickly drank it taking the medicine as well, as she pulled her bag onto her lap to check her phone. However she noticed it was off? Why would she turn her phone off? Did the battery die on her? It was quite a new phone, she only had it for a few months so it was definitely odd for that battery which worked just fine before to die on her like that so quickly? And she never turns her phone off.

Ugh, whatever… She put her phone away and looked through her bag quickly to check if Tikki was still in there.

“Tikki..? Are you in there?” Marinette whispered as she opened her bag, soon watching the Kwami emerge from her bag, looking up at her as she was floating in the air.

“You were with me the whole night, right? You know what happened?” Marinette was quick to ask as Tikki looked slightly unsure “Honestly Marinette.. I don’t know where to start?” she sighed, staring at her owner who only looked even more confused.

“Well, you drank with Adrien, said goodbye to your friends.. kept hanging out with him, after that you saw something and asked me to go to Master Fu as soon as possible to bring back-up. I thought I caught a glimpse of Chat Noir, but as soon as I came back with the back-up, you were gone. After I tried to track your Miraculous down, you were asleep on Adrien’s bed” she explained as Marinette raised her eyebrows.

“Wait.. I saw Chat Noir last night? How come I don’t remember anything about all of this?” Marinette groaned out, but soon looked at the door, hoping Adrien wouldn’t hear any of this. She didn’t hear anything which suggested to her that she was still safe and continued talking to Tikki.

“Was Adrien with me the whole time?” She asked, lowering her voice immediately.

“I don’t know, the moment was so rushed that I didn’t pay attention.. Perhaps he was somewhere else? He didn’t seem to know anything about what I saw? maybe Chat Noir got away when you went home with him?” Tikki suggested with a mere shrug. Marinette crossed her arms. Something was fishy.

“We need to get to the bottom of this, Tikki” She stated as she got up, looking around for a short while “Hide Tikki, we’ll talk to Rena and Queen Bee as soon as we get home”

________________

 

Walking out the shower with a high end set of clothing from Gabriel’s fashion line, which was a silk top and black pants beneath. She dried her hair with ease since it iwasn’t that long anyway. Once she packed everything she needed, she put her dirty clothes into a plastic bag and soon walked out of the bedroom, being greeted by the smell of food.

Adrien was already preparing the table with their food and looked up at her once she entered the kitchen, smiling up “The clothes look good on you” he commented which made her quickly look down on herself, her face going red just slightly “Eh..thanks..” she muttered a little while looking away.

“Come sit, I set this table much more presentable than I usually do when I’m home alone, I hope you like it” he added as he pulled a chair back, like the gentleman he is, and she quickly sat down as she didn’t want to make him wait there awkwardly when he was being so nice.

As soon as she was seated, he sat down right across from her and smiled at her “Thanks..I..really appreciate you doing this.. I hope I didn’t trouble you too much?” she replied to which he shook his head “Don’t worry about it, we all make little mistakes, I’m just glad I was there with you” he replied which made her look up, feeling a little ticklish on the inside. He was so sweet at this moment, she couldn’t help but feel this way.

“You’re very caring.. has anyone ever told you that? I mean.. we barely even know each other” Marinette replied with a shy smile, making his smile back immediately, his green eyes really getting her attention at how bright they looked when he smiled at her, she couldn’t help but notice.

“Thanks? You seem like a great friend, those are pretty rare honestly, I know from experience” he answered back, which made Marinette’s stomach churn in response. Ouch? Just a friend?

Wait… _what?_

Was she expecting _more?_

She quickly shook that thought out of her head. What was she even thinking? The guy probably had other model colleagues who were much more attractive than she was. She only designed and made clothes, and that’s it.

“Are you okay?”

She was quickly pulled out of her thoughts as Adrien cocked his head a little. Ah, she went completely silent, didn’t she?

“Yeah, I’m fine.. I’m just trying to remember what happened last night, It’s all so hazy” she lied quickly, not wanting to dive further into the subject she was thinking about, but rather the subject that has been bothering her since the moment she woke up.

Tikki told her she saw Chat Noir last night, but where was Adrien during all of that? How come she was still alive after an encounter with him? And why in the world didn’t she transform to fight him immediately? That would be the first initial reaction when seeing him, right? That’s what she would’ve done, she was sure of it. But sending Tikki away for back-up? Why didn’t she use her phone? Did her phone die at that moment? There was definitely something up, she knew it.

“We were drinking quite heavily and I’m sure you’re still a little hungover, I can manage drinks pretty well, but you didn’t seem that tolerant last night. You were able to stay awake, though, even when I left you alone for a bit when I headed out for a little while, I had to call us a cab, but the club music was so loud I had to leave you there for a bit” Adrien explained. That would explain that he wasn’t there with her when seeing Chat Noir. But she was drunk.. how would she able to get outside to see Chat Noir in action without stumbling? Was she pretending to be drunk, since she didn’t drink that much? Why would she? This only raised more questions she couldn’t answer and she couldn’t possibly ask him something like that. Would it sound crazy to say that she might’ve seen Chat Noir last night? Maybe it would be crazy. It’s probably best to stay quiet and not talk about it for now.

“I see.. silly me” Marinette answered as they both smiled a little awkwardly until they decided to eat. It took over an hour to finish their breakfast along with some small talk as Marinette helped Adrien clean everything and put it all back in place.

“Should probably get going now, my phone died and I need to make some calls today. I didn’t expect to stay over at someone else’s place, so…yeah..” Marinette was first to talk after some silence and Adrien nodded in return “Want me to bring you home? I imagine it’ll be quite a hassle being hungover” He proposed.

“If it doesn’t trouble you too much, I’d be very thankful” She answered back “You won’t be, I’m free anyway, so driving you home is something I wouldn’t mind doing at all” he replied.

And so they went to Marinette’s apartment, with him driving his expensive car with her directions. As soon as they arrived, they said their goodbyes. “Thanks a lot for helping me out… and I guess I’ll see you in the office soon?” Marinette said to which he nodded “Yeah, see ya!”.

Marinette headed straight inside, dumping her dirty clubbing clothes somewhere as she headed over to charge her phone quickly and watched Tikki emerge out of her bag, watching her wait for the phone to charge enough to actually start up.

“I need to figure out what happened last night, Tikki” She muttered with a frown, impatiently tapping her fingers on the surface of the table where her phone was. “Easy Marinette, don’t you have a headache? Adrien said you were hungover, are you feeling okay?” She asked, wanting to make sure her owner was alright first.

“Yeah yeah, I’m fine, just a small headache” she replied back as Tikki held a worried look on her face “I already took some painkillers, I just need to take it easy, but I’m pretty sure it’s not the drinks, I never had a hangover as I know my limits” Marinette stated and quickly took her phone once it started up. She looked through some missed calls, messages which were mostly from Alya, about where she was and why didn’t pick up her phone.

And that was the first person she decided to call. She didn’t have to wait too long for her best friend to answer.

“Marinette, what the hell happened last night? You went completely AWOL!” was the first thing Alya said to her with a shriek. Marinette held a frown on her face, not that Alya could see it, but she wanted to get straight to the point “Can you come over to my place? I need to talk to you ASAP” she answered back right away “It needs to be in person, can you hurry?”

There was some silence on the other end until she heard a sigh “Alright alright, I’ll be there in ten” and they ended their conversation as Marinette went through her phone to find some other evidence. But nothing. She even looked through her pictures, but there was nothing she could find about last night. Knowing she did use her phone to capture important moments or anything at all, but she didn’t last night. Perhaps she couldn’t do anything in the heat of the moment? She sighed and decided to sit down for a moment.

She needed to wait and see what Alya would tell her as soon as she would get here.

**Author's Note:**

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